Cascon Case ICB: India-China border 1954-62

Status Quo Side: India

Non-Status Quo Side: China

Region: South Asia & SW Asia

Conflict Type: Interstate

Issues in Dispute: Territory

Phase 1: 1954

Although India in 1954 formally agreed to Chinese control
of Tibet, Prime Minister Nehru complained that published Chinese maps showed as Chinese
substantial border areas in the Northeast Frontier Agency (NFA) area and Ladakh.

Phase 2: 6/29/1954

Peking protested the presence of Indian troops in contested
areas. Further incidents evoked a Chinese denial that borders, including the McMahon Line,
had ever been formalized. In the critical atmosphere following the 1959 Tibetan uprisings,
Nehru disclosed Chinese intrusions and announced a military build-up. In June 1962 the
1954 Sino-Indian Agreement including Panchsheel (five principles of peace) was allowed to
lapse.

Phase 3: 9/8/1962

A skirmish between an Indian outpost and a Chinese patrol
was followed by heavier attacks and further Chinese incursions. On October 26 India
proclaimed a state of emergency. The US and UK sent arms, Moscow remained neutral.
Mediation by Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser having failed, six neutrals met at
Colombo to prepare a joint approach. China was soon in a position to seal off Tibet on a
line approximating prior claims.

Phase 4: 11/21/1962

China announced a cease-fire. The Colombo Proposals did not
lead to formal agreement.

Subsequent developments:

During the 1965 India-Pakistan war, China revived the
border issue [see INP]. After eight rounds of talks without
agreement on India's claim to 14,500 square miles of land held by China in Ladakh, and
China's claim to 34,000 square miles held by India, the two countries announced, at the
end of Prime Minister Rajiv Ghandi's 1988 visit to China, the establishment of a joint
working group to resolve the dispute. In July 1992 border trade was resumed after thirty
years. In August 1995 it was agreed to pull back troops from four points on the north east
border where rival troops had been only 50 yards apart. Both parties appeared willing to
maintain the status quo without resolution of the border issues. In November 1996 the two
countries agreed to mutual troop withdrawals and pledged mutual non-aggression. But Indian
concern with Chinese arming of Pakistan was a major factor in deciding in May 1998 to
conduct nuclear weapons tests aimed at deterring China and gaining world respect.